What you have on disk 4? It has a EFI system partition (so it's a bootable drive) and has a HFSJ formatting.
It seems that you have a MAC OS on your system and that explains the GPT protective partition.
Tell us the story of installation process. Witch OS was installed first, witch disk was attached etc
It's an OSX drive I currently use to exchange files with an OSX system.
I can simply eject that HFS drive if needed
I don't see any link to the GPT partition on my c drive.
Last edited by Hawaga; 29 Nov 2016 at 10:20.
I've been backing up Windows for years now. I've used Macrium Reflect and Image for Windows. Bi-monthly at least, I make a full image of my Windows OS partition [often known as "C drive"] onto my external HD. Are you wanting to make a full image of only your windows OS partition? Or, are you wanting to make a full image of the entire HD?
So, whether attempting to make a full image of Windows OS partition, or of the whole HD -- same failure. Sorry if I missed it, have you already tried the Macrium Reflect usb or dvd boot and from within that menu attempted making a full image?
Windows Backup/Restore has been a mixed bag - many have great backups and restores; many have had problems.
It was Mac OS that created the GPT Protective Partition. This partition probably has the Time machine created under Mac OS.
How to Remove an EFI System Partition or GPT Protective Partition From a Drive in Windows
Can You Access GPT Protective Partition Or Recover Data Off It
I understood that it only can be removed with Diskpart, that will erase all disk, and that is exactly what you don't want.
This is what I would do.
- Remove all other drives, leaving only the disk 0 (C:)
- With Macrium Reflect Free I would try to make a partition (not disk) image of the C: drive.
- On another Legacy - MBR disk, restore the image on it.
- Remove the actual C: disk leaving only the new disk.
- With a Win 7 installation disk, go to Repair and do a Boot repair.
Then try to boot it. If it does, you have your C: backup. Don't attach it on the computer when using the Mac OS.
Thank you so much for your answer! :)
I don't think any Mac OS created the GPT Partition, If I'm not mistaken I think it was probably created during the Win7 install process, as the Mac OS drive didn't even exist before and was attached to the system probably 2 years after the PC buildup. As far as I can tell there's no Time Machine involved with my Win7 drive whatsoever.
I'll definitely give a look to those links and let you know!
True!
Tried that already (Really!) with no success, Macrium wouldn't even start the backup... BUT!
Today I was desperately still googling for a solution while waiting for your answers and I just found a free program called Driveclone 11 (Clone, copy, migrate hard disk & SSD | Make an exact copy of your disk - DriveClone) which I started and it DOES seem to be cloning my Win7 partition (not disk) to my "Backup Win7" drive. It's now going 80% of the process.
Do you know about this program ? If so would you recommend it, or would you recommend using a "safer", more well-known program for my purpose?
This Driveclone software I'm referring to does seem to have a "fixboot" repair option into it.
Anyway where in that process should I delete the "GPT Protective partition" of my original system C: Drive?
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